Giardia

[Samantha Randall]

Hamilton had diarrhea for about a week before we finally took him in to the vet. (He was acting completely normal and we thought it might have been that we switched his food) He tested positive for a parasite called Giardia. The vet informed us it is very common and nothing to be worried about. Just curious if anyone has had experience with it? They gave us packets to sprinkle on his food in the morning, a tablet to sprinkle at night, antibiotics that he takes twice a day, and a tube of paste like substance to administer once daily until it's gone. Quite a bit of medicine for him! 

[Samantha Randall]

I just looked up Proviable- that is what the vet gave us. I will get another dose for when he's done with that just to be safe! Thank you! :) 

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

My dog is on antibiotics right now.  I give the probiotic to him twice a day - 2 hours away from the antibiotic.  I give him Proviable capsules - opened up it is powdery.  I mix his into some peanut butter on a spoon and let him lick it off.  I smear peanut butter on the antibiotic and hand it to him.  He is THRILLED that he gets these wonderful treats!!! Your vet is very cool to give you Proviable for the probiotic.  Most give an inferior product. 

[Richard Crowe]

Giardia is a very common problem in dogs and puppies and is also fairly common for humans in Third World countries where Americans not so fondly have nicknamed the problem "Montezuma's or Ho Chi Minh's Revenge" .

We have all of our new rescue dogs checked for this problem as soon as they arrive.  We used to check only one puppy out of a litter, with the mistaken idea that if one puppy was clean, all were.  We were proven wrong and now check every puppy in each litter.  A bit expensive but, a worthwhile precaution.

We treat coccidiosis with Sulfadimethoxine (Albon) and giardiasis with Metronidazole (Flagyl).

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

With all due respect, Richard, it is now known that Panacur is a better option for treating giardia in dogs; it is more effective than metronidazole and has fewer side effects. 

[Samantha Randall]

Oy. 

We are on our second round of panacur and antibiotics. Time to get more vigilant with the cleaning! Wish us luck :(